Kisharon raised a record £45,000 at its annual business breakfast when Vernon Hill, the billionaire chairman and founder of Metro Bank was the guest speaker.  Mr Hill, once golfing partner of Donald Trump, flew into London for the event which drew a crowd of 200 to the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel on Wednesday 25 January. The event was sponsored by GVA, the leading real estate adviser.
“I am very impressed with your work helping people [with learning disabilities] and very, very proud to be associated with Kisharon,” he said. “This is a beginning of a new relationship with Metro Bank and you are going to be hearing a lot more from me in the future.”

  
Mr Hill outlined the Metro Bank story: “Delivering Growth in a Non-Growth World,” while urging the audience to “create fans, not customers.  When I started my first bank I was 27 at the time… there were 23,000 separate banks [in America] and I was 23,001.”
Metro Bank was “the first new retail bank in England for over 100 years…  I wanted to attack the cartel and to be a complete revolution… You cannot create a great business unless you have a brand that builds fans.” He also said there were “two kinds of Brits – those who bank with us and those who are about to bank with us.”

His staff are “not allowed to say no.  If someone asks a question, they must say, ‘let me find someone who will be able to tell you if that is possible.’”
Guests saw a film of Kisharon’s work with children and adults with learning disabilities and heard an update from Dr Beverley Jacobson,  Chief Executive.  “The impact of your support of our work is what it is all about,” she told the audience.
The audience also heard from Shaun Ledgerwood, CEO of niu Solutions – one of the 80 plus businesses to offer employment to an adult who is supported by Kisharon. Fundraising Director Richard Franklin later said: “I am delighted with the success of this event and a 22 per cent increase in profits on last year’s breakfast is something that even Metro Bank would be proud of!”